Color Challenge #3 Reveal!

Hey guys! I'm back with you guys again today, and this time I have a color challenge reveal for you guys! This was the date that Barbara, Mavis and I had decided upon to do for the reveal, and I finally get to share with you guys all of the fun art that I've been working on this past 10 days!! And I'm excited to do so! First, let's reveal the colors. Although you probably already saw the photo that I put above, I'll tell you the colors anyways. And they are pale blue, vermillion and purple. ALSO. As I said when I first revealed that I was going to be doing another challenge with Barbara (and I'm glad I did; she was a pleasure to work with as always) I mentioned that there was going to be a twist for this challenge. And that was the use of word prompts in the work. 

Barbara and I came up with the colors and words; she crowd sourced two colors (vermillion and purple), and then added the word prompt life. I added the pale blue color and the words energy and passion. We decided that we somehow needed to incorporate these words into our work, and I found this a wonderful challenge to try in comparison to some of the things that I've been doing lately. All three of the projects that I did for this challenge were art journal pages of one kind or another, but I'll focus more on what journal they were done in when I get to them.

The first page that I would like to share with you guys today is this art journal page that I decided to do in my 5,000 Question Survey journal. In case you aren't really a follower of my blog, the 5,000 Question Survey is a survey that was put together for people who were looking for journaling prompts to work on in private or in public; it really depended purely on the person. Well, I saw those prompts, and I saw art journals. Art journals all the way. And from there, this journal was born. I've probably done about 20 pages, give or take 2 or 3. The question was kind of a deep one, in comparison to some of the others. It prompted me to answer the question; "What is the truest thing that you know?"

Well. That one took a lot of thought, let me tell you. At first, it didn't make sense at all, since my brain, which so yearns for accuracy kept telling me that one thing cannot be any more true than another. Of course, I believe now that I was over thinking the whole question, but, after some time, I realized that one of the word prompts; life; actually went very well with this question. Though I still don't believe that life is the "truest" thing that I know, it is true, never the less.

Life is one thing in this world that cannot be denied, no matter how hard one might try. It is something that is always here, but people very rarely take the time to appreciate it. I know that I don't. Not as often as I should. But maybe, after working through these thoughts on this journal page, I will now.

The next page that I want to share with you is actually the facing page to the previous one that I shared with you. I love the way that this page turned out. It seems that every time I do a girl in one of my journals, in this way, I always like it. Always. I haven't done one yet that I didn't like. And, as I've said before, this is so much more my style than a lot of other ones that I've done in the past. As soon as I knew that I was going to be doing another color challenge, I knew that I wanted to do another girl. I've been doing so many of these lately, that it's starting to get ridiculous. But I love them so much that I find it difficult to resist. Honestly. Soon, my journals are going to be filled with these girls, and there's not going to be a thing that I can do about it. 

I love everything about this girl though. She's just too cool for words. In my opinion at least. I love her hair; the brightness of it is amazing. I think I'm going to have to do this color of hair again sometime. 

And her eyes. Purple eyes aren't something that I would have originally done; this challenge was destined to push me beyond my limits. Maybe sometime I'll try making one of these girls with her hands at her side; not hiding them behind her back, since I don't know how to make them. ;)

And then, just before I move on, I would like to share with you a picture of the two pages side by side in my journal. I love how they match/coordinate without being too matchy. That's the main thing I was worrying about when I made these two pages side by side. But I like the way that it turned out.

Now, the last page that I have to share with you guys today is actually the first page in the envelope journal that I shared with you guys the other day. I had been working in this in little bits for a while now; it seems to me that this little journal has sort of been soaking up the excess bits of my journal making endeavors for the past week or so. I always have a bunch of paint left over when working on art journal pages, and always want to do stuff with them. So far, these pages have all been created with these created leftovers. There are more, but that's for another day. Plus, this is the only one that's honestly finished so far.

Here's a bit of a close up of the title. I've been thinking about carving some letter stamps as of late, but I've been putting it off. These stamps were foam stamps that I've had for a while now, and I love to use them on my pages. So that's that.

My color challenge reveal.

Thanks so much for visiting me today, and make sure to visit Barbara and Mavis to check out their color challenge reveals as well! Also, Beth participated with us. Check her post out as well!

31 Hearts and ICAD

Hey guys. I have a bit of a shorter post for all of you guys today, as I'm trying out a new setup for the blog, and this is part of the transition. I did a bunch of other art stuff today as well, but I'm going to be sharing that stuff later this week. Let's just say that, with the new set up, I hope to have some days specifically for some of the projects that I have started in the past; such as my work through of the book Collage Unleashed, and my Creative Experiments posts. As well as some tutorials, hopefully. Also, I have a bunch of In The Sun class pages that I'm hoping to share with you guys later this week. However, for the time being, I would like to share just a couple things, starting us out with my 31 Hearts page.

As I've said before, I've really enjoyed these pages. And today, I decided to use the hearts around the edges of the page as a sort of border instead of the main focus of the page, which I have tried in the past. You guys have seen plenty of those. And I have plenty more of those ideas to come. I just thought that it would be a good idea to add some variety in. Everybody needs some of that, right? I think so. I do like the way that this page looks though. It's really starting to grow on me. I love the texture that was achieved, even though I'm not really sure how I got it.

And today, I'm also going to share my ICAD with you guys. You can see the zebra striped heart? That was a stamp that I made out of fun foam and cardboard from a cereal box.I love the way that these stamps turned out (I made two of them, with one being the reverse of the other), and thought that this card turned out pretty good. It was nice doing a bunch of painting, after so much doodling. At least I thought it was.

That's all I have for you guys today though, so I'll talk to you guys later!

31 Hearts + Zentangling

Hey guys! How are all of you guys doing today? I am doing fine, and I hope that the same holds true for you. I would like to share with you today, some of my art that I was working on today. I worked on yet another 31 Hearts page, which I have been doing for the entire month of July. Those of you who have been followers of my blog will have seen the other pages, but, if you haven't, if you simply backtrack from here, you can see some of the others.

This isn't really my favorite page that I've done for this challenge, but I might add some more to it. I liked it a whole lot better before the black border around the heart became extremely dark and thick. I liked it better when it was dark and thin. It feels like it might be more my style. However, tomorrow, I may add some more words to this page. That might help a little bit with the style of the page. Adding some more near the bottom would be what I would normally do. I just ran out of time in the day. However, today, this is what I used on the page:

"These diamonds we collect are hardly the beginning to the power of all of the facts life has been without."

                                                 -Jordan Hill

Hope you guys like it. Sometimes the little phrases, sentences, and paragraphs I put together seem to have deeper meaning than I originally intend. That's pretty much what happened today.

Of course, today I would love to share with you guys my 30-30-30 Challenge. For those of you who are not aware of my challenge; I have been challenged by Bianca of Luctor Et Emergo to create 30 art journal pages in 30 days in 30 minutes each. Today I decided to do a Zentangle doodle. I still need to add the tab of course, but it seemed easy enough. Plus, I've been really into the doodling thing lately. It's fun, easy, quick, and looks amazing. Plus, I find it fun to experiment with all of the different marks that it is possible to make.

For example, with today's ICAD I did exactly the same thing. I made a zentangle. I love the zebra type pattern; it really seems to explore my style; I actually have an idea for my 31 Hearts pages that I'm looking to explore with some zebra patterns included in it. We'll see what becomes of that. I have about a million of ideas for that challenge after today. 

Here are some stamps that I actually made for this challenge. Or, rather, based around this challenge. I used self adhesive fun foam and cardboard from a cardboard box. I have probably 5 more ideas for some stamps that I would love to experiment with, as well as some more stencil ideas. I've really been having fun exploring using a new shape in my artwork, and am even considering trying a new shape after this challenge is up. I feel as if this is exploring a side of me that I never even knew existed; the hearts seem to be a part of my style that I didn't even know was there. It's weird. But true.

And finally, I would like to present you with my ATCs for the day. I started some more besides these, but these four were all I was able to finish. I've been working on top of color washed and watercolored papers for these pieces, so that the color will show through the black and white pieces. I love the effect that this gives, for sure.

Anyways, thanks for checking out my blog. And I'll see you guys later. Peace.

Challenge Updates - 7.5.2012 Edition

Hey guys. I'm back with you guys again today, even though I haven't really been doing so good with getting my art in lately. Some of this I just do while watching television. Since that's what I seem to be doing lately. Vegetating. In front of the television. Plus, my family makes me feel guilty because they want to watch Lost, while I'm making art. So they keep pestering me every two seconds. Ha. So eventually I just gave in. But here I have my 31 Hearts page for you guys today.

I'm not sure if this page really turned out the way that I wanted it to. I mean, it certainly fits the style of the rest of the pages that I've been doing for this challenge, but for some reason I felt like this was going to be much more graphic and bold. Instead it's subdued and subtle. And I don't know how I feel about it, to be completely honest. I had to stare at it for a couple of hours before I could bring myself to leave it as is, and not completely cover it up and start over from scratch. Of course, I realize that I am much too difficult on myself sometimes.

My 30-30-30 page for you guys. Again, very much the same collage based style that I have been using for the majority of this project. It's weird. It seems that I develop a style for any challenge that I start. This one is more collage based, while my 31 Hearts challenge is very much based around paint, stencils, masks, stamps, distressing and subtle colors.

Here's a few of the details of the page. I used a bunch of scrap paper from magazines to create this page.

My ICAD was purely doodled today. I drew my inspiration from some pieces that Tammy was doing earlier on in the challenge, although I did mine in simple black and white. And I do like the way that it turned out. It's certainly not horrible.

I also made some ATCs today. I haven't quite been keeping up with my schedule this month, but we'll see what happens. Today I made three cards, and I love each and every one of them. These, as always, are available for trade. I made two of them from a very basic watercolor background, and the other from specific collage materials that I culled from anywhere that I could. And I like them all. Anyways. That's all that I have for you guys today. And I hope to see you tomorrow. I'll be here.

31 Hearts, 30-30-30 + ICAD

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

*fanfare plays*

Yep. And that's that. All of the fourth festivities that you're going to get. Because, to be completely honest, I didn't use those particular colors in the majority of my art today, like I know some people did. I guess that it's just not my style. But I'll tell you what is my style. Today's art.

We're going to start off, once more, with my 31 Hearts page. This is starting to become a habit, now that I think about it, but I don't really think that should be a problem. I just like showing my most favorite pieces first. That's the way I blog; I almost always have. And I think something about getting back to journaling in a full size format, and just having a new challenge to work with is really inspiring me. Also, I think I'm creating, in me, a new love of hearts that wasn't there before. I don't know why. I've always shied away from them. But this challenge is pushing me beyond my boundaries. And I've enjoyed every minute of it. And I haven't made a single page that I didn't like.

The real focus of this page though, is obviously the hearts. Even though I did an extremely textured background to work on, the hearts are what I am most proud of. I went on a hunt, through all of my papers that I have lying around my desk; that were formed from painting them, or lifting paint from a previous page; I found my favorites. Then I made a collage of them on another piece of printer paper. I also included some paper towels (dyed, of course) into the layers. Added some stamping and some doodling, and I was done. Then I cut hearts out of the piece. And I really like the way that they turned out. I still have a few left over; not sure what's going to become of them yet.

And here is my ICAD of the day. This is ICAD #35. If you guys remember, yesterday I was having problems with my ICAD. I didn't really like it. At all. I didn't feel that the girl really represented my style. So I tried again today. And I really feel as if I achieved what I was looking for. This is the second time that I have repeated a prompt, but the result was good, so I'm okay with it.

And here you can see the details of her face a bit better. I used watercolors for the majority of this face, and mixed some white acrylics into some of the layers to create a more solid texture. I really like the way that this turned out. I was taken aback by her hair at first, but I soon got over that. I like it now.

And, finally, here is my 30-30-30 page. After doing a quick count today, I realized that this is not page 24 as I thought, but, rather, page 25. So I really only have five days left. I did this page in very much the same style as I have done most of the pages in this journal, and really enjoyed the way that it turned out. 

And that would be that. I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and I'll see you tomorrow! Bye!

"Obsession" and ICAD #2: Yellow

Hey everyone! I'm here with the same kind of stuff I had for you yesterday. An art journal page made from a prompt from the 5,000 Question Survey, and an index card for ICAD. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Let's start out with the art journal page first.

Today's prompt was "Have you ever taken martial arts?" Oh. My. Goodness. They needn't have asked that question. The whole martial arts thing set me off on this big spew about my life story with martial arts. Liking TMNT and corny ninja movies as a child, and evolving into a person who still loves martial arts and ninjas with all of her soul. Seriously. See all of that journaling? Nobody writes that much about martial arts. Not unless they really like it. Like me. And in case you guys were wondering/didn't know... yes I did take martial arts. And I was rather good at it too, if I do say so myself. My master told me that when I got to be a black belt, he believed that I could be the first person from his school to win a national black belt tournament. Unfortunately, we had to move. It was extremely disappointing, and the cost of living is much higher down here in Florida than it was in Ohio.

But, on a higher note, let's talk about the page itself, shall we? I started out with the page being orange. I wanted to play with opposites, as the Creative Every Day prompt for this month asked of us, so I tried some blue on top of that.

And from there, I tried to work with a Traci Bautista inspired style. But you can see what happened from there. It changed. From that, into my style. Although you can still see some of the creative paint doodles showing through. I did like the way that the page looked, I really did, but the problem wasn't that I didn't like the doodles. It was that I didn't like how it wasn't my style. It didn't match the rest of my journal, so it didn't really work out...

So, from there I added a thick layer of white paint over top of the whole thing. I was thinking about letting it dry that way, and just starting over, but I didn't really like the idea of all of my precious paint doodles going to waste over the surface. So, in any of the places that I had doodled with paint the various circles and flowers, I picked up the white paint with a paper towel. Just blotted it up. Then I let it dry that way.

Then, after that, I went over the entire thing with yellow paint. And that's where I got my final layer. I loved the way it turned out, and I really think that this page is a whole lot more me than the other one was.

Here's one last close up of one of my flower doodles. It's not quite the same as it was when it was more Traci Bautista inspired, but it's a lot more distressed and cracked. Totally my style. I love.

And here is my ICAD of the day. I used the prompt 'yellow' for this card; I painted the back of an index card with bright yellow paint. Then I took a deep yellow color and used a pallet knife to spread it all over the background. Then I used a rust colored porfolio oil pastel to draw the doodles on the edges. The photo is from a magazine and the word is from a printed out collage sheet I got off the internet. 

And, quite honestly, that's all I have for you guys today. I'll be back with all of you guys tomorrow! See you!

Paper Beads and ICAD #5

And I'm back with you crazy people again. :P Just kidding, I'm sure I'm probably crazier than all of you combined. :) Today I have another index card (this time one of my favorites of all time) and a note about paper beads. Again. :) Let's start with the index car, shall we? Lets. If you look at the picture above, you can see the index card that I pretty much just finished. I really love the way this one looks, and the style itself really reminds me of Traci Bautista, who is pretty much one of my favorite artists of all time. This is probably one of my simplest cards yet. I started with a plain old card, and then I put down a layer of yellow acrylic paint. While it was still wet, I put down some light teal in the extra places, and then blended it into the rest of the card. The technique I used was actually inspired by the GPP Street Team crusade this month. I'll probably be working on it some more, so this isn't my official challenge entry. :)

But anyways, the way the technique works is you take a stamp after blending the background, and apply the same two colors you used for the background to the stamp. Then you just stamp it over the background. It creates a really cool effect, since the color disappears in some places, and is more vibrant in others. That was the whole background.  Very easy. Then, I simply added a strip of paper across the whole card (another piece cut from a color copy of my work; let me know in the comments what you think of a series on finding collage fodder) and then added the words that I cut out of a magazine. Yesterday it was 'More' and now it's 'More Power'. Pretty much the same thing, but at least I know what I'm thinking about I guess. :/

And here's a really cool picture that I took of my general working area when I'm making beads. I use my pallet to put glue in, and put beads wherever I can as I make them. All the beads I'd shown you before had been made on a small needle, but I decided to see what the difference would be if I tried using toothpicks. So far I like the way it's been working out; they're easier to work with compared to a needle, since they're that much thicker around, but they're still a reasonably thin hole so beads probably wouldn't fall through if I tried to string them with something else. Now that I think about it, seed beads might, but I'd just have to remember to put a larger bead right next to it. Some creative stringing, that's all I can say. We'll see how this goes.

One note; I'm sorry about the quality of the pictures lately; I've been using the camera on my phone, because during the move my camera cord sort of went missing. Plus I think I lost my SD card. After I find those things, the quality of the pics will probably improve. But in my mind, I'm thinking that some poor quality pictures is better than nothing right? Plus, it's not that bad until you enlarge them. :) So that's all I've got for you guys today; wish me luck for my Drama class at school tomorrow; I have to read a two minute piece in an accent. I chose a british accent, but I'm just hoping I don't crack up while I'm doing it. But I have been told I do a mean british accent. :) Anyways, wish me luck and I'll see you guys tomorrow!! Bye!